NEW DETROIT CITY CHARTER: It passed...

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I have been talking about a CHARTER PROPOSAL in Detroit that would mandate electing city council members from districts or wards and not “at large” which meant many districts in Detroit had NO representation on the council; Detroit is one of only two cities that elects at large.

I claimed that the new charter would put the city on a road to recovery from the corruption and incompetence of the past and the history of Detroit can attest to the sordid past.

I became concerned when public figures, those that stood to lose power or money if the new charter is approved, started coming out against the Charter proposal, stirring up the electorate by playing the usual race cards…if charter passes, white suburbs will gain control of Detroit assets?

I should have had more faith in the electorate. With only a 10% turnout, the charter passed 58% to 42%...Hallelujah!!!

My only rationale for the victory is that the people in the know and the people that really care about the city came out to vote and the opposition could not buy enough votes to vote the charter down.

I will admit that the only part of the charter that I cared about and studied was the election of city council members by districts which I am convinced will “improve” the way the council functions. One problem is that the current city council will be tasked with drawing up the actual districts and this could get to be a political battle and therefore mess.

I did not study the other provisions of the charter but have heard from people opposed to the charter that feel the provisions will hamper city progress with one placing obstacles to privatizing city departments. Since I am all for privatizing, this may indeed be a hindrance to progress.

Anyway, I am surprised and pleased the charter was voted in and now look forward to see how it will change the city.

2011 ELECTIONS: Unions won...

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Yesterday, local and regional elections were held across the country. These elections are usually problematic since issues are local or regional and do not usually attract many voters.

The voters that these elections attract are the ones that actually passionately care about the issue(s) on the ballot and those types of voters are in the minority; the rest just couldn’t be bothered.

Note: This is a very good argument why voting should be made easy through mail or internet voting.

And it is for this very reason that specific issue groups can easily place a proposal on the ballot and are practically guaranteed of passage if an opposition group does not materialize.

This is what happened with the UNIONS who placed proposals on ballots to un-do anti-union legislation that has been passed by the elected legislature. UNIONS also place re-call proposals on the ballot to recall elected officials that agree to anti-union legislation.

Since unions have millions of dollars to spend on these elections while facing NO apparent opposition, they win.

In OHIO, union voters rejected a bill that would limit their bargaining rights, etc. I suggest that the Republican legislature keep passing these laws until the unions run out of money trying to defeat the legislation. In Ohio, the unions blew through $30 million.

In Michigan, the teacher’s union went after a young legislator that backed teacher tenure changes and cuts in school budgets. He lost by a small margin which means some voters actually opposed the teacher re-call proposal. I hope he runs again in the next election, the election where most voters will be participating, and wins and again calls for teacher tenure reform.

The unions can always count on their members to vote and get the vote out. We need anti-union groups or clubs that can organize a strong anti-union electorate that can counter the pro-unionists. Unfortunately only the unions can throw $30 million into the fray.

Related articles

• Ohio Voters Emphatically Reject Kasich's Anti-Union Law (kaystreet.wordpress.com)

MIDDLE CLASS EDUCATION: Forget about elite schools...

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I have been debating (arguing) about the so called “inequality” issue that seems to be on the minds of protesters and liberal leaning individuals these days.

BUT I also have to take issue with liberal media that have a tendency to stoke the flames of social unrest by articles designed to unfairly provoke the concern about inequality.

I take issue with my home paper THE DETROIT FREE PRESS. In a front page article headlined COLLEGE FALLING OUT OF REACH as if to indicate that a college education is out of reach for many because of the economic turmoil the country. Families have to take care of basic needs first and therefore college has become a luxury many can no longer afford even though a college education is now basically mandatory for decent employment.

OK that sounds like a genuine concern about the consequences of a depressed economy. My parents were poor but I attended college anyway, I obtained a merit scholarship from the state of Michigan, was drafted and completed my education on the GI Bill. I have always believed that where there is a will there is a way BUT that is not what the Free Press was getting at.

The sub-head read: FEWER FROM MIDDLE CLASS AT ELITE SCHOOLS and that just irks me. It is the same shit I heard from this paper about minorities not being able to attend the “elite” schools, never mind that minorities, women and middle class students are attending “higher learning institutions” at record levels, NO it is all about why aren’t they attending the “elite” schools as if society owes them that right?

Students that have drive and desire and a modicum of smarts can fashion a good career no matter which college they attend. But this newspaper thinks it is somehow important not that poorer students attend college at all BUT that they need to attend the “elite” schools in this country and that is a bunch of hooey!

My wife wondered why I was so upset with the paper and the education writer David Jesse of the Free Press who was tasked with writing about a statistic and making an issue where no issue existed.

Yes, higher education costs more and I don’t really know why but there are community schools and two-year schools that offer affordable education. You can work while you go to school which is what I did and not live in a dorm.

I guess what set me off is the damn newspaper which instead of offering young people suggestions of how to get a higher education on a budget, decries the fact that young people from the middle class find it harder and harder to attend ELITE schools…so?

Related articles

• For 2010 grads, more student loan debt (lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com)
• Winds of Change Blow Away College Degree (bloomberg.com)
• G.I. Bill - for Entepreneurship (ammori.org)
• Educational Inequalities Discussed (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)
• Saving for College: Looking into the Costs of Various Types of Schools (education.com)

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS: Different this time around...

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Today (Tuesday, Nov.8, 2011) we in Michigan, have our local elections and in Canton, MI we are electing new school board members.

BUT this election, things were a little different.

First, the local school board election took on a partisan flavor. Usually the locals running for the school board are not pushing their political affiliation as to Republican or Democratic but what they intend to do to make our schools better for our children. This year the Republican Party of Michigan decided that they would make the school board race a political race.

Conservative leaning candidates were identified as candidates that would follow a more fiscally responsible path as opposed to the free spending and fiscally irresponsible liberal candidates.

I found this a little strange but then I read that the teacher’s union (MEA) or more accurately, teacher union members (teachers) were contacting local businesses that displayed political signs of school board candidates that the union considered as non-union friendly, threatening those businesses with a boycott; since there are many teachers in our area, businesses (restaurants) were naturally afraid of any organized boycott of their already fragile businesses.

Teachers are saying that their threats of boycotts are perfectly legal and a valid and effective union weapon. I think the tactic is plain blackmail and I am getting tired of union coercion to get their way or else.

In the past, parents ran for the school board so they could make sure the schools are run properly and in a way that would benefit the children attending the particular school system BUT now due to the economic depression we as a nation, find ourselves in, money and the lack of, is the central issue in managing even our schools.

The teachers union obviously feels that teachers have given up enough in wages and benefits and cuts have to come from somewhere else. Conservatives / Republicans feel that the teachers and their union are greedy and have been getting a premium employment package for years and that needs to stop.

I have made my arguments for union greed in the past but have also taken the teacher’s side in some instances BUT here my main objection is the tactic of threatening supporters or even businesses that allow all candidates to display their political propaganda, with an organized boycott of their businesses.

In my mind, you can promote your candidates as hard as you can and use every marketing tactic at your disposal to influence people’s votes BUT to threaten people (that own businesses) if they don’t agree with your position is AGAINST THE FIRST AMMENDMENT AND OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH and as such is unconstitutional and therefore a crime.

OCCUPY WALL STREET: We were there!!!

While visiting my son Zak and his wife Kimberly in NYC to celebrate his 33^rd birthday, my wife decided that we needed to visit the encampment on Wall Street called the OCCUPY WALL STREET MOVEMENT.

She is very sympathetic with what the so called movement is trying to do which is hard to actually figure out but she feels they are sending a message that something is wrong in this country and something needs to be done to especially help bridge the gap of inequality between the haves and have-nots…sounds like Communism to me.

Anyway, she probably has a point somewhere but off we went to see for ourselves.

Well it was a bloody mess with tourists and on-lookers circling the encampment trying to figure out what was going on. Saw many entrepreneurs selling all sorts of stuff as you would see at any “spectacle” that draws large crowds.

The “occupiers” were of all ages and looks. Many had signs promoting all sorts of causes (no unified message). Many had buckets for collecting donations (for what?). I spied a sign with a “wish lists” of things desired by the occupiers and on the list I saw “cigars” as items they needed or wanted.

One sign somehow compared Fluoridation of our water with HITLER…interesting?

I think that originally there was a “reason” and a “goal” to the protest but I feel at this point, it has been taken over by a bunch of loonies that either are mooching the free food and other donated stuff, homeless people or frustrated hippies trying to re-live the 60s.

I know this is costing the city a bunch in police overtime and hopefully the approaching winter weather will send the occupiers to warmer shelter. If that does not do the trick, throw them all in a bus, hose down the area and post guards to prevent anyone from homesteading there again.

My wife would obviously have a different opinion as to what should be done with the gentle and dedicated protesters who are protesting for us all so we all can be equal?

Related articles

• Occupational hazard: Living with the homeless (Salon) (occupyusatoday.com)
• Crosby & Nash to perform at Occupy Wall Street (cbsnews.com)
• Is NYPD Sending Drunk Homeless People to Occupy Wall Street? [Occupy Wall Street] (gawker.com)
• Fights, rapes and beggars at Occupy Wall Street (markinthecity.com)

DETROIT: Bing as Emergency Manager?

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This morning I read where the mayor of Detroit, Dave Bing, is hinting that Detroit may need an emergency manager and he may want to be that manager.

I knew something had to happen because Detroit was just not getting better with its tax base eroding swiftly and the unions still demanding their benefits even though job performance has eroded also, Bing does not see a way out except a city dictatorship and I agree.

The city council which I had pinned my hopes on appears to be no different from the councils of the past, primarily looking out for their own personal welfare and re-electability as exemplified by council members trying to prevent a new charter for Detroit from being ratified since the charter provisions (election by wards) would cost some of them their jobs.

Mayor Bing has not done a stellar job either with daily headlines in the local papers exposing the still prevalent corruption and plain incompetence in city departments costing millions and unable to deliver benefits to city inhabitants that really need those benefits.

I have always claimed that an emergency manager could override union contracts that have no place in this economy and make fundamental changes in pensions by switching them to 401(k)s which is the only way to go and mandating higher health care deductions and raising health care premiums for workers which most states have already done.

Let the battle begin…

Related articles

• Bus Crisis In Detroit Hampers Riders (npr.org)
• Detroit pays bus drivers to sit and do nothing (thegrio.com)
• It's Time for Detroit to Stop Settling (theroot.com)

OCCUPY WALL STREET: Nothing but noise?

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OK, I have been following the “Occupy Wall Street” protesting and am still at a loss to explain what the hell is going on.

I realized people are angry at many things going on in this country but occupying a park near Wall Street sends what message exactly?

In Oakland, California the female mayor first told police to get the protesters out of here and then when the police used some force, she apologized and now sides with the protesters and has told city workers to join the protesters and NOT go to work? The police union sent an open letter to the mayor asking basically WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

Well I am asking the same thing. Going after Wall Street is plain stupid; they will do whatever the hell they want to do. If you want laws enacted to protect the public from Wall Street shenanigans GO TO WASHINGTON DC where such laws can be enacted.

The problem with the protesters is that each one has a different goal which can be absolutely loony to legit but unless the protesters speak with a unified voice it will always sound like a bunch of noise.

And if the protesters are requiring tax dollars to clean up their shit and spend tax dollars to pay police overtime then the silent majority will get pissed and demand that the protesters be sent home or jailed (no food) we are not wasting anymore tax dollars.

Once again, I am all for citizens protesting, it is their right, but unless you get your shit together you are nothing more than young hooligans out for some excitement and we don’t need that in this country right now…

The problem is that too many factions are trying to take control of the protest “spirit” which was genuine but aimless and those factions are all about their own narrow agendas, making the protest and protesters look like a bunch of loonies…all trying to get their different messages out all at once, creating nothing but noise.

Related articles

• Occupy Wall Street is no Tahrir Square (cnn.com)
• Barricades Removed Near Struggling Restaurant at Occupy Wall Street Protests (foxnews.com)
• Peter Dreier: Occupy Wall Street: Changing the Topic (huffingtonpost.com)
• Occupy Wall Street roundup: Day 46 (dailykos.com)

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL FIELD: Joke?

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Watching the news these days is an adventure especially when Republican presidential politics is the topic.

Herman Cain, the guy that jumped to the top of the race for no apparent reason except that there is no one on the Republican side worth voting for, has now come under scrutiny for a number of reasons which reveal a man not in control of all his faculties and someone that probably cannot chew and walk at the same time.

I know that is being harsh but he is NO presidential material and basically not intelligent enough to handle the highest office in the land. He has already backed off his 999 economic plan because it makes no sense and now is battling sexual harassment charges from a number of women.

He did himself in by changing his story at every interview; a sure sign of lying…he needs to go away.

Rick Perry, never the brightest bulb in the bunch, has stopped debating because every time he debates, he looks dumber and dumber. The last time I heard him speak, he appeared to be drunk or worst yet what if he was sober and sounding drunk. He also needs to depart but will not until the early primaries.

Romney, the flip flop guy is just not appealing to any voters and there must be reasons for all the dislike but mainly people just don’t like him as president even though he probably would make a good one.

I think serious Republicans must realize that their field of front running candidates is a joke; the others are staying in the race hoping that they will be drafted after the front runners crash and burn. This may actually be a plausible scenario and I still have my hopes up for JON HUNTSMAN who I think would make a great candidate against Obama and would actually be good for the country.

The fact that we as a nation are in dire straights and desperately need a strong, intelligent leader but what the Republicans are offering is a crying shame…be prepared for some big surprises…I hope.

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• Rick Perry: Drunk During N.H. Campaign Speech? (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• The Case For Huntsman Involves A Lot Of Magical Thinking (huffingtonpost.com)
• Herman Cain Declares Himself a Victim of a 'Smear Campaign' (usnews.com)
• Is Rick Perry still a top-tier presidential candidate? (csmonitor.com)

LIBYA: Don't blow your hard earned freedom with a religious dictatorship!

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Western powers (UN) helped Libyan rebels defeat the 40 year rule of Dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi; the West has set the Libyan people free from his tyranny…or has it?

After the (controversial) killing of Qaddafi, one of the leaders of the “new” government told reporters that the country would now be governed by SHARIAH (Islamic) law and that includes, bringing back polygamy.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil had caused some concern among the Western powers that helped Libya rebels win over Qaddafi and his army of supporters BUT also among Libyan women especially the young, educated ones; they don’t want to overthrow one dictator who actually was socially moderate, for the theocracy of Islam as seen in Iran…the revolution so many died for should not bring LESS human rights and MORE Islamic domination that would be anti-progressive as well as more patriarchal, making women second class citizens once again.

Mr. Abdel-Jalil was surprised to hear so much backlash at his statements. He quickly added that Libyans are “moderate” Muslims but the fact that Islam has entered the political arena in Libya means that the democratic process everyone called for has already been compromised. At least Qaddafi kept peace among the radical Islamists and the progressives.

So here we go again in the so-called Middle East or Arab Spring. Tunisia just voted but violence broke out when a party failed to get a majority. Egypt is seeing religious riots, Syria is killing its citizens and Libya is headed for an Islamic theocracy.

I have not lost hope and expect turmoil before a stable and democratic path is found.

Note: This is why having foreign students live and study in the U.S. is a good thing as these same people will take our democratic ways and hopefully teach them to their fellow countrymen.

Related articles

• Libyan Theocracy? (towleroad.com)
• U.N. Votes to End Libya Intervention on Monday (nytimes.com)
• Libya's new leader declares an Islamic state (wdsi.wordpress.com)

FALL ROAD TRIP: Gatlinburg, TN etc.

Took a road trip to Gatlinburg, TN to see my niece Kimberly and her boyfriend Duane. They live in a chalet right in the Smokey Mountains and work in Gatlinburg. She is an artist and has an art store there and he runs a small restaurant in the same area.

The ride there was long (9hrs.) but pretty nice with the Fall colors at their peak in the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee.

We rented a chalet in the mountains and I do mean IN THE MOUNTAINS. I will admit that driving my Ford Expedition on those mountain roads gave me some pause. The driveways to the chalets were so steep that I feared flipping over…but I guess I was just not used to it.

We drove through PIGEON FORGE, TN which is a huge tourist trap, to DOLLYWOOD which is a huge attraction owned by Dolly Parton and mostly dedicated to her life with many music venues all singing and playing her stuff. There are rides for the kids and country restaurants and more shops selling tourist crap. It was a great Fall day and the place was well decorated for the Fall.

GATLINBURG, TN is a smaller tourist trap town but they did have ski lifts that could take you high up to see the Fall colors in the Smoky Mountains which is something to behold. We were here many years ago when our kids were small and we had a pretty good time then.

My niece Kimberly is an accomplished artist and creates paintings and jewelry she fashions from some process in glass; we bought a bunch of stuff including a large painting that my wife really fell for.

We also ate at the CABIN CAFÉ which is run by Kim’s boyfriend Duane which is a cozy, cute place to stop and eat while making your way through the miles and miles of arts and crafts stores; I usually sat on a chair while they shopped.

All in all a pretty good adventure especially when you consider that my brother-in-law and his wife have not been out of Michigan in many years and he has never seen where his daughter lives and works.

MICHIGAN AUTO INSURANCE: Changes needed...

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Michigan is the only state that offers UNLIMITED LIFETIME COVERAGE for people involved in life-altering car accidents. The Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association pays for all accident claims over $500,000 and is funded by payments from motorists buying insurance policies in the state.

Now we are being told that the claims association will run out of money and will have to increase what motorists pay into the fund which will make expensive auto policies that much more expensive at a time when many people are having trouble paying for their auto insurance.

The proposal is to give motorists cheaper options of $500,000 to $5 million for post accident coverage BUT opponents are saying that people are stupid and will always opt for the cheaper policies and therefore face problems when they are involved in really serious life-altering accidents.

Excuse me but let the people decide what coverage they want and not YOU decide for them. Since Michigan is the only state with life-time coverage means we are doing something STUPID or else other states would have the same law.

Nearly 99% of accident injuries are under $250,000 in Michigan but it takes only a few people with life-altering injuries to blow through millions of dollars in the fund AND we are being told, care providers knowing Michigan covers life-time medical expenses, use it to their advantage and that needs to stop now.

The fact that Michigan has some of the highest numbers of UNINSURED MOTORISTS makes this bill so important; lower cost of auto insurance and maybe more people will be able to afford coverage.

I feel bad for the few people that need life-time medical coverage but I don’t think it is fair to punish all of us with such high insurance premiums; there must be a better way and I think this proposal is just that.

We need to get out of our welfare mentality; we cannot afford that mentality any more.

Related articles

• HB 4936 - Pending Changes to Michigan's Auto No-Fault Legislation (ezable.wordpress.com)

DETROIT: New Charter opposed even though vital...

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I have been ragging on Detroit and its culture of incompetence, corruption and racism for many years now. I was somewhat optimistic about much needed changes when a new mayor (Dave Bing) came in and new, younger members of the City Council were elected and the incompetent crooks thrown out.

I was especially buoyed by a new charter for the city that for the first time ever, would mandate electing council members from their own areas of the city (like wards) and not at-large which basically allowed Detroiters to elect all members from the core city leaving all other parts of the city unrepresented. The charter would also help prevent corruption by making city operations a lot more transparent.

BUT NO…the newly elected council members and other officials want to keep their jobs and any power they wield and so they are encouraging Detroiters to vote down the charter, a charter that would, in my opinion, put the city on the right path to crawling out of the deep black hole it finds itself in currently.

The officials against the charter are playing the race card with Detroiters saying that the white suburbs will steal all the city assets and that type of provocative message works with Detroiters even if their assets are worthless.

Only hope for the city is for the mayor to come out and sell the charter which may not be perfect BUT it is a step in the right direction but so far, he has said nothing.

The newspapers are encouraging passage but they do not hold much sway with voting Detroiters.

I asked my wife who is a big activist in the city to ask her friends to exert some energy in passing the charter instead of screaming against greedy Wall Street?

And that is why as much as you want to be optimistic about the future of Detroit; you just can’t because Detroiters are their own worst enemy and until Detroit is re-populated with young, intelligent people that care for the city and want it to prosper, the city is stuck in a time warp where incompetence and corruption are the order of the day.

NAFTA: Finally Mexican trucks roll...

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You probably don’t even remember my ramblings about NAFTA (North American Free Trade Act) that was signed / agreed to in 1994 but blocked by the Teamster Union, yes since 1994, because they didn’t like Mexican truckers delivering goods into the US and therefore taking their jobs.

What has been happening up to now is that Mexican trucks would deliver goods to the border where Teamsters would pick up the goods and deliver them to the end user; this was a very inefficient and expensive way to import goods from Mexico.

Good from Canada can be delivered into the United States by Canadian trucks; yes, any place in the US.

The Teamsters used every trick in the book to block passage of an act already agreed to by Congress saying Mexican trucks were unsafe and Mexican drivers could not speak English and any bullshit excuse they could think of.

Our government found out that Mexican trucks were safer than U.S. trucks and the drivers were just as qualified if not better qualified than Teamster drivers.

When Mexico enacted “punitive” tariffs against American goods being sold into Mexico and basically killing exports to Mexico and all the American jobs that went with those exports did the Obama administration see the utter stupidity in blocking the NAFTA deal from being enacted?

The Mexican trucks will have to pass safety reviews, the drivers will have to take drug tests and pass an English test, all this to placate the Teamster twits. BUT American drivers wanting to deliver goods into Mexico have to pass the same tests…good luck with that…speak passable Spanish, pass drug tests, have a safe rig…I don’t think so.

Anyway, the first Mexican truck to deliver goods into the U.S. will roll through Nuevo Laredo with much fanfare.

The Mexican government did say that if the Teamsters manage to block this NAFTA deal again…the tariffs come back and American jobs go out the window again.

Obama should make a big deal out of this issue since it is 11 years late (Mexican trucks were scheduled to roll in 2000) and new jobs will be created and this is a GOOD thing but maybe Obama may not want to piss off the Teamsters any more than he has already.

Related articles

• Mexican truck is first in US under NAFTA (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mexican truck is first in delayed NAFTA program (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Tariffs Canceled Before Start of NAFTA Program (abcnews.go.com)
• First Mexican truck set to enter US interior (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mexican trucks due to begin going deep into U.S. (content.usatoday.com)

IRAQ WAR: Finally over?

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President Obama announced yesterday that ALL troops will be out of Iraq by the end of the year as promised by him in his campaign pledges.

This is obviously good news for the 50,000 troops that are still stationed in Iraq and for their families waiting for them at home. This is also good news for our economy since we continue to blow billions and lose Billions in a war that should never have been in the first place.

Critics of the president’s plan have emerged immediately and some have legitimate concerns.

President Bush tricked the nation into approving a war on Iraq (remember weapons of mass destruction bullshit) just to establish a democracy in the Middle east which he thought, would democratize the rest of the Middle East like falling dominos.

To make his dream come true he sacrificed over 4,000 American soldiers and countless thousands of Iraqi citizens as well as trashing our economy.

The critics of ending this war and our presence in Iraq point to the fact that as soon as we leave, an Iraqi civil war will begin which is true as I have blogged about for years now.

Here is their main gripe: We sacrificed thousands of American lives and billions of American dollars FOR WHAT? That question is most painful to all those families of American soldiers that died FOR NOTHING in Iraq but they did die FOR NOTHING because there was no threat to us from Iraq and FOR NOTHING because an Iraqi democracy is a very far fetched idea if not an impossible idea.

If you want a shred of optimism, the possibility of an Iraq split into three (3) sections, Kurds, Shia and Sunni, is possible after the civil war and that would be a good thing. A bad thing would be the mostly inevitable meddling of IRAN in an Iraqi civil war which could get the US involved in the struggle…again?

President Obama is absolutely doing the right thing by ending this worthless war BUT ole’ Bush should be made to realize what a terrible decision he made by getting us involved in a war that should never have happened…he has to own the guilt for that war…forever!

Note: Obama's decision was made easier for him when Iraq would not give IMMUNITY from prosecution to any soldiers left behind to keep the peace and prevent a civil war...so ALL troops must come home.

Related articles

• Betrayal (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
• Obama: U.S. will withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of the year (thecurrencynewshound.com)
• Immunity for troops was Iraq deal breaker (cbsnews.com)
• Iraq PM: Immunity issue scuttled US troop deal (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Iraqis fret about security after U.S. withdrawal (msnbc.msn.com)
• Endgame: Obama announces all troops to leave Iraq by the end of the year (hotair.com)

STEVEN JOBS: and religion...

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I have mentioned my profound admiration for Steve Jobs and what he has accomplished for us all and for the world and I will be buying his authorized autobiography just to learn more about the man since he was such a very private person during his life, very little is known about his private life.

One excerpt from his autobiography made public, stands out to me, it is about his views on religion. The little detail that was leaked was that he did attend church on a regular basis as he was growing up but then he saw a picture on the cover of LIFE Magazine of starving African children and never went back to church again.

We have been seeing the same images basically on a constant basis whether its children starving to death with flies all over their tiny bodies or children with limbs cut off by rebel armies, etc.

While this may sound strange to many, it is quite familiar to me and to the many people that study religion and the anthropology of religious beliefs and practices.

I have always maintained and many scholars agree, that religion is part of our human DNA and has evolved side-by-side with other human attributes but for someone like Jobs and many others, religion and especially the concept of an all powerful and all loving God becomes absurd when viewed against a backdrop of abject human suffering and misery, especially when inflicted on the very young.

Mother Theresa, at the end of her life, also confessed that her God does not exist because if he did he would never let such suffering and misery exist.

There are many books out on the market currently that address this very issue and I am about to take a course in the subject of “Why Evil Exists”.

If I was to break down the arguments, the conclusion has to be that we as a people invented God in the image we wanted him to have and with attributes we wanted him to posses. This all powerful, all merciful and always loving God has become our father figure, someone that watches over us at all times.

The problem is that the God of our imagination cannot exist and function in our real world that is filled with suffering and misery because the attributes we imbued him with do not allow such suffering and misery to occur.

Many Christian theologians have tried to explain this conundrum and seeming incoherence by blaming our suffering and misery on the devil or on mankind that has free will and therefore chose to do evil. These arguments do not hold up when the suffering and misery are caused by natural disasters that could only occur as part of God’s will.

Christianity has painted itself into a corner with no rationale way out.

The Jews invented a God that is powerful but also vindictive, cruel and blood thirsty among his many attributes. But also being all powerful, how could he ever allow the Holocaust to happen.

Here the Jews also painted themselves into a corner but their excuse for centuries was that bad things happened to them because they were somehow “bad” and needed to be punished. This explanation only satisfied for awhile and after the Holocaust, many who survived the barbarism concluded that the God of the Jews did not exist and if he did, he was a worthless God.

Many Jews keep Jewish traditions but are not religious.

I could go on and on in this vein but back to Steven Jobs; my admiration grows the more I know about him.

Related articles

• Israel allows formal status as "secular Jew" (whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com)